What Does Positive For HIV P24 Antigen Mean After Being Tested Negative For HIV1 And HIV2?

Posted on Thu, 12 Dec 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 12 Dec 2013 Answered on

Tue, 7 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : after 1 year of exposure, I tested negative for hiv1 and hiv2 test-elisa and vdrl, but tested positive for hiv p24 antigen.. what does this mean? i tested 6 months back and it was all negative. pls reply asap thank you

Answered by Dr. Pravin Banodkar (17 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Hello . Welcome ! Detailed Answer: Thank you for your message . The p 24 antigen which was initially positive , is a sign of HIV virus being present. The p 24 antigen however can be falsely positive as well as the antibodies were negative . The test you did later 6 months ago have revealed everything negative so this sums up that there was a high possibility of that false positivity . A clinical co relation would also be required . I would suggest you to do all the tests again now that you have mentioned above and get back to me . Thanks and Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pravin Banodkar (9 hours later)

thank you for your answer.. i showed the doctor my results.. he told me to do hiv 1and 2 duo 4th generation western blot test proviral dna the results were negative/non reactive/not detected Does this mean the p24 antigen was false positive & im hiv negative :) thank you

Answered by Dr. Pravin Banodkar (28 hours later)

Brief Answer: Thank you for your message. Detailed Answer: Yes , it means you are HIV negative and the P24 was false positive. Thank you

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pravin Banodkar (2 hours later)

Thank you for the reply.. do i need to test again in 3 - 6 months.. or this results are accurate hiv negative ?

Answered by Dr. Pravin Banodkar (4 days later)

Brief Answer: Hello Thanks for your message Detailed Answer: The results are accurately HIV negative . You do not need to repeat the test. Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar